Tuesday, August 11, 2009

There's a great sense of adventure when exploring the market-style setup at Fratelli Fresh in Waterloo. Admittedly it's more fun if you don't look at the price tags, but quality comes at a price, and this price buys you luscious, heavy, vivid and gargantuan specimens of deliciousness, all artfully arranged in rustic wooden crates.

Pomegranates

Pumpkins

Potatoes

Pig Flyin introduces me to his favourite part of the store: the balsamic vinegar and olive oil trolley. A wooden waiter's trolley is laden with all the very best bottles of extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, the kind you whistle over when you read the price tag, but never think you will get to try.

Next to the bottles is a little tower of mini plastic cups ready to use for tasting. Usually the trolley is manned by a helpful staff member, but sometimes noone is around and you can taste test them without the pressure of a salesperson breathing down your neck. Pig Flyin and I do a quiet "cheers" with our thimbles full of balsamic vinegar, and tasting so many at once does illustrate why you'd want to pay more for the good stuff. There really is a huge difference.

And after a bout of shopping, and a few thimbles of vinegar and olive oil, there's always room for lunch - at Cafe Sopra, only a flight of stairs away.

Linguini with seafood, lemon, chilli and garlic $22

A huge sun-drenched dining room greets you at Cafe Sopra. There's no menu, only a daily menu written on the towering three-metre high blackboard. The range of options is dazzling, and my notorious indecision is on public display as I stand there, motionless in the middle of the room, whilst a flurry of waitstaff bustle past me with plates of food from the kitchen.

So. Many. Choices. It can't even use my finger on the page as a marker as I whittle down my choices. There's just a lot of head bobbing and shaking as my eyes try to take in the entire menu that deserves to be on an Imax movie screen.

Once we've decided and ordered, the food doesn't take too long to arrive. There's plenty of people-watching to do anyway, the room filled with a cross-section of young families, yuppies, Gen Y diners, and a group of Italians in the gingham-clothed private dining room to the side ($500 for room hire and food whether it's for 2 or up to 10 people).

Linguini with seafood is a tangle of al dente pasta that's tumbled with a generous amount of fish and prawn. The prawns are a standout - really fresh and sweet. The garlic oil has a surprising amount of chilli, and it's lifted with the zing of lemon zest.

Vitello tonnato $18

This is my first introduction to vitello tonnato and I can see why it has its fans. Thin slices of cold veal are amazingly delicate and tender, the veal stack dressed with a tuna mayonnaise made from pureed tuna, olive oil, anchovies, egg yolks and lemon. Scatterings of black olives, capers and anchovies add saltiness and textural interest. It's topped with two paper thin slices of cheerful lemon.

Capellini with lemon, chilli, parsley and pangrattato $16

Capellini with lemon, chilli, parsley and pangrattato is a lesson in the joys of simplicity. The satisfying crunch of deep-fried breadcrumbs against the silky smoothness of pasta is one that should be enjoyed more often. Lemon, parsley and chilli add lightness. I've made this plenty of times when the cupboards are bare.

Pan-fried sardines with stewed tomato bruschetta and pesto $20

The pan-fried sardines have plenty of flavour, thick meaty fillets with a golden-seared skin. It comes on a bed of stewed cherry tomatoes and a side of thick slabs of toasted sourdough. A dollop of dark green pesto adds a nutty sweetness.

Pork terrine with spiced quince $18

My favourite dish is the pork terrine with spiced quinces, a door-stop wedge of terrine that is decadent with chunks of pork that flake with ease. It's more like pork rilettes, the sweetness of the pork marrying brilliantly with the aromatic spiced quince, heady with cinnamon and star anise.

19 Comments:

Great post- beautiful photos. Sopra is my peter pan happy place in Sydney. I love how they change the accompaniments to the terrine with the seasons. But promise next time you'll save room for the banoffee pie- it's the stuff dreams are made of.

Note that Cafe Sopra on weekends does have a bit of a queue, we've waited anywhere from 15-45 minutes. But it should, as the fresh pasta Cafe Sopra makes is delectable in its wide variety and taste. Besides avoiding the queue another reason to arrive early is because around 2-3pm the chef begins striking out the more popular dishes from the menu!

ooh the market is soo close to my work place and it opens on Sundays as well.. Woot! I can check it out this weekend. Thankks heaps. Oh I love buying fresh produce from the markets as well, you just know that despite the price tag, it's gonna be worth it.

Fratelli and Cafe Sopra is one of my favourite places to go, it takes me so long to stand in front of that huge blackboard and decide what to order! I always enjoy the simplicity and quality of their dishes and their cheesecake is to die for!

Ooh, I just drove past Fratelli today and I thought to myself that I HAVE to go, and then I saw this! Thanks for the post, now I'll know what to keep an eye out for! Looking forward to eating at Cafe Sopra as well :D

Hi Tori - Oh everyone needs a Peter Pan happy place :) And I've always wanted their Eton Mess. I do love a banoffee pie, although realistically both are so ridiculously easy to make. Tempting!

Hi 3's - I agree, waiting for food is never fun especially when you're hungry! I like your tip with the shopping on a full stomach. I try not to fall in that trap because it's amazing how much more stuff you think you really really need!

Hi Minh - Have fun at Sopra. It's a lovely day out doing some food browsing and then having a lovely meal. Enjoy!

Hi Katherine - Sardines do go really with tomatoes. I have to say I haven't had sardines with rice before though. Sounds good!

Hi Shor - It's always stressful when you see the white lines start appearing on the menu! Agree, it's always better to have an early start to avoid the queues and get a full range of the menu.

Hi Linda - Lucky you. You can go for a lunchtime stroll every day :)

Hi Stephcookie - I must've looked so awestruck, but there are so many options that I found the effect quite dizzying! Cheesecake eh? I might have to order one of everything off the dessert menu next time!

Hi Simon Food Favourites - Nothing like a good browse around a food store to whet the appetite. The produce always looks so fresh and bright and shiny too.

Hi Peter G - Yes I prefer to look at the produce and try to ignore the price boards above them. The fridges have a trove of treasures too. The Cafe was great. A treat to see original seasonal dishes.

Hi Betty - What great timing. lol. Danks Street is becoming such a great little food suburb. Hope you get there soon!

Hi Vivz - I actually had lots of fun trying to surrepticiously look at everyone elses dishes when I walked past their table!

Hi Dom - I take it you're a fan? lol

Hi Jacq - Am sure you will have lots of fun browsing Fratelli Fresh, and then exploring the food at Sopra :)

Hi Trisha - The terrine was enormous. We struggled to eat it all, but of course, we managed to, in the end :) Weekend food shopping is always good. Hmm food shopping anytime is good!